Dale Ann

I’ve been practicing Bikram Yoga at home for several years, and over time it’s almost free.

Doing Bikram in a studio is not cheap. I wanted to do the 60 day challenge, but the cost was prohibitive. So, this is my DIY “Bikram at Home” set up with a few hints and websites if you want to purchase the items.

You will need a bathroom you can heat up for about 8 hours. It really needs to be a bathroom because you need the shower for humidity... more later. You need to be able to lie down with your arms extended over your head for the sit-ups, so the length of space you need is just a yoga mat plus an arm’s length. You might want to move any temperature sensitive items like moisture creams and make up into a closet to protect them from the heat.

1. SPACE HEATER: Place a small very safe space heater set on “Stay on” or “constant on” in the room, away from anything flammable. It takes about 8 hours to heat up my bathroom to over 100 degrees with a space heater set on “constant on.” Obviously, follow all safety precautions that come with your space heater. Ideally you want the final temp to be 105 degrees, but even Bikram says you can do it at a minimum of 85. A space heater is available for $24.19 Prime at: Space heater (Asked Amazon purchasers who said it has a setting that stays on until you turn it off)

2. TOWELS: Place rolled up towels at the base of the doors, and close the air/heat vents in the room to keep the heat and humidity in. Or you can purchase “Twin Draft Guard” at: Draft Guard

3. MAT: Lay a regular yoga sticky mat on the floor and lay a beach towel over that. Any hot yoga towel will work. I've used Breathe Mats, beach towels and plain old hot yoga mat towels. This is my fave right now: Hot Yoga Towel.

4. SPEAKER, iPOD & CD: Place a computer/iPod speaker on the counter and dock or plug in your iPod (I use an iPod Shuffle), which should be loaded with the Bikram Beginning Yoga CD available for $20 plus $4 shipping at the official Bikram site: Bikram CD
Mini Speaker is available for $12.99 Prime at Amazon: Speaker
If you don’t have an iPod Shuffle, here they are at Amazon: iPod Shuffle. But I'd look on Ebay or Craigslist.

5. HYGROMETER/THERMOMETER: Finally, the humidity should be at about 40%. To that end, you will need a hygrometer (humidistat) combo thermometer with remote read. I have found that even though the heat causes the humidity to go down to 5%, when you turn the shower on with full hot water, the humidity can come up to almost 40% within about 10 minutes. Also, the rise in humidity will raise the temperature by about 3-4 degrees. So if you wait until the temperature is about 100, then turn on the shower, you’ll be at 103 degrees and 45-50% humidity pretty soon. Turn the water off before it gets cold because the humidity will stop rising and may decrease. It takes about 40 minutes to heat up the water again, and in my bathroom it also takes that long for the humidity to drop to 30%. So half way through the practice (just before the long savasana which precedes the lying poses), if the humidity is down, you can turn on the hot water again, still leaving time for it to heat up again for a shower afterwards. Turn the water off after about 5 minutes, or when you see the humidity is up to 40+%.

Here’s a link to several on Amazon: Hygrometer

The humidity is really important. You won’t sweat nearly as much if the humidity is down.

A few notes:

DO NOT TRY THIS AS A NOOB! GET THEE TO A BIKRAM STUDIO! Any would be Bikram yogini or yogi should practice in a certified Bikram studio for a while, at least until you get a feel for it… maybe for a month or so. Many studios have wonderful introductory offers, like “take as many classes as you want your first week for $15.”

I really haven’t noticed any significant change in our electric bill or our water bill. But I HAVE noticed that my skin is healthier, I feel better all day afterward, my flexibility and strength have dramatically increased, and my IBS is GONE! AND over time it’s virtually free!

I am looking into buying a small heat mist humidifier, because it’s harder in the North to keep the humidity up in the winter. May cost about $50.

I place a small Bathroom Rug under my mat to cushion my back a bit for the lying down poses. That floor can be pretty unforgiving!

I looked up calories burned for Bikram, and was shocked at what I found! At 105 degrees with 40% humidity you burn over 900 calories in the 90 minutes of yoga! Sometimes I lose as much as 3.5 - 4.5 pounds in one session, but of course most of that is water.

Also... I haven’t seen this anywhere else, even though I’ve looked... Often after sweating that much, the next day you may be constipated... but if you eat 3 prunes after Bikram, you should be fine. Just a heads up for you (or bottom’s up). :)

It’s really important to hydrate yourself before you start, and after you finish. Also, do not eat anything for a couple hours before. Then afterward, be sure you replenish your electrolytes with something like Emergen-C. Trader Joe's has one with no sugar... uses stevia instead! Love it! I drink 2 of those. Also, I’m much colder, so I take a sweater everywhere for the rest of the day.